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To annex or not to annex, that is indeed the question

Like a modern day Hamlet, Benjamin Netanyahu is pondering his next most critical decision.

Already the longest governing Prime Minister in Israel’s history and on the verge of starting a fifth term, Netanyahu appears to have made his choice. He recently told a group of Christian evangelicals that he was “confident” he’d be able to annex large parts of the West Bank. Indeed, the terms of his coalition agreement with his rival turned partner Benny Gantz allow him as of July 1 to introduce proposals to do precisely that.

But will he? He’s been Prime Minister now for almost a decade and a half and his support for annexation—which not coincidentally reappeared in April 2019 shortly before the first Israeli elections—has remained largely rhetorical. Netanyahu is preternaturally accomplished as a politician; and in many respects as a Prime Minister, too. But when it comes to major decisions in peace or war, he is no bold leader like Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, or Ariel Sharon...